SweetloreEncyclopedia of World Sweets (534）
Paparajotes
Paparajotes
Ingredients and Methods of Paparajotes
Fried Sweets ／ Murcia, Spain
Paparajotes are a fried sweet from Murcia in southeastern Spain. Lemon leaves are coated in batter, fried, and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. The leaf imparts its aroma to the batter, but only the surrounding batter is eaten. The leaf is left uneaten.
Battering and Frying Lemon Leaves
In a method presented by a university in Murcia, a batter is made by combining eggs, milk, flour and other ingredients. Lemon leaves that have been washed and patted dry are coated with batter on both sides and fried in olive oil. In the hot oil, the batter puffs up and the surface turns golden. The citrus aroma transferred from the leaf mingles with the sweet scent of the finishing sugar and cinnamon.
In a method from the Spanish government’s tourism agency, egg yolks are mixed with milk and water, flour, lemon zest and cinnamon are added, and whipped egg whites are folded in before the batter is left to rest. The leaves are dipped in it and fried, drained of oil, and then sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. This is one example in which grated lemon zest adds aroma to the batter as well, not just the leaves.
Once fried, they take the shape of a large leaf. To eat one, hold the leaf by its stem and gently pull the batter off with your teeth. The leaf supports the batter and imparts its aroma during frying.
From Huerta Homes to the Spring Festival
In Murcia, farmland where fruit trees and vegetables are grown is called the “huerta.” Paparajotes are described as a sweet that has been made in homes there using flour, eggs, milk and other ingredients together with leaves from lemon trees. Clean leaves that have been properly managed for culinary use are chosen.
During the Bando de la Huerta, the main event of the Spring Festival, local people set up food and drink venues called “barracas” in town squares and gardens and serve local dishes. Paparajotes are among them. They are also eaten on St. Joseph’s Day, but they are a sweet that can be made in any season.
Murcia’s regional tourism agency notes that the name appeared in a newspaper in 1896 and was also listed in a regional vocabulary published in 1919 as a fried sweet made with flour, milk, sugar and eggs. Some theories link it to the cuisine of al-Andalus or to Sephardic sweets, but how the present-day leaf-based sweet came about is not clear.
Glossary
- Batter
- A coating applied around ingredients before frying. In paparajotes, it encases a lemon leaf.
- Huerta
- Farmland where fruit trees and vegetables are grown. It is closely tied to local life in Murcia.
- St. Joseph’s Day
- The day on which Christianity commemorates Saint Joseph. In Spain, it falls on March 19.
